This will exhibit with 60 other figurative artists at the Ronald H Silverman Gallery, Cal State LA

Jan 25 - Feb 24, 2020

I order my scrolls from China. Thank-You to the hard workers in China for making these! They come as one piece with the fabric and thin paper. I start with the graphite portrait and render it very lightly, building up my darker tones as erasing is minimal due to the fact the paper can tear so easily.

Then I hand design and cut my stencils for the layering of the acrylic spray sections. The small, halo/band right above her head with the yellow, arch base has 5 different stencils in just that small area alone.

Since hours have already gone into the graphite portrait, using the spray paint is stressful as mistakes are not an option at this point of the creative process with these fragile materials. The stencil for the small, black, beaded section took hours to cut by hand, but felt so good when I lifted the stencil off the paper after spraying it black and nothing had smudged as it was my final stencil and I was basically holding my breath right up to the end!

There is a lot of symbolism within this piece of artwork from the sacred number 7 being represented in various imagery to my love of the Venus de Willendorf and her fertile, bountiful beauty, which is estimated to have been created in 30,000 BCE. I love that she has braided hair and is wearing jewelry and was used perhaps as a ritual for female empowerment.

The Yin & Yang comes from my admiration of eastern thought and philosophies and that we live in a world where opposites are part of the game of life thus the checker board pattern.... and just as we deal with outside forces of good and evil so we battle the inner voices that honor and dishonor us 24-7.

And of course the honeycomb pattern above and below because our lofty lives depend on the lowly female bee working so hard pollinating for us, enabling our health and well-being....while also heralding the plight of the bees and the colony collapse disorder.

The sacred female pelvis is floating on its own energy as a powerful life giving force.

The peace sphere is a copy of a favorite piece of jewelry that Kristine often wears and peace is what we have to create in a world of contrasts and chaos.

And the triangular-style designs at the top where the 3 circles on each of the 6 clover-like stencils equal 18, which is another sacred number for life or chai.

The stunning Perceive Me Art Catalogue of all of the artists' works selected by Kristine Schomaker of Art and Cake is available for pre-order at gofundme